ConFUSION

Sometimes I feel like I'll never catch up. When I think I'm making progress, I'm presented with yet another challenge. This time it's "fusion." No it's not a Ford by the same name, nor the musical genre as in Jazz fusion, nor Glenn Beck's magazine (although aptly named) "Fusion," it's something called "fusion centers."

What are fusion centers? Fusion centers had their birth shortly after the largest terrorist attack on American soil took place on 9/11/2001. They were designed as a way to share information, to connect dots crucial to our national security, and to address one of the weaknesses that the attack brought to light: the lack of multi-agency sharing of critical intelligence.

There's been some out cry on the right and on the left regarding these centers, and the only reason wingnuts on the right haven't used fusion centers with which to attack President Obama is that they mostly agree with their mission.

Although they have an innocuous sounding mission, some believe that the government is exceeding the purpose for which these centers were founded. According to Wikipedia:

"A Fusion Center is a terrorism prevention and response center that was started as a joint project between the Department of Homeland Security and the US Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs between 2003 and 2007.

"The fusion centers gather information not only from government sources, but also from their partners in the private sector.[1][2]

"They are designed to promote information sharing at the federal level between agencies such as the CIA, FBI, Department of Justice, US Military and state and local level government. As of July 2009, the Department of Homeland Security recognizes at least seventy-two fusion centers.[3] Fusion centers may also be affiliated with an Emergency Operations Center that responds in the event of a disaster."

Think of it: 72 centers and climbing. I'm beginning to worry that our country is starting to look a great deal like Saddam Hussein's Iraq, where close tabs were kept on dissidents and regular folks.

Already excesses are being identified, where information is being gathered on folks simply because they oppose government policies in some fashion, and have no subversive ambitions.

"Though they [fusion centers] developed independently and remain quite different from one another, for many the scope of their mission has quickly expanded--with the support and encouragement of the federal government--to cover 'all crimes and all hazards.' The types of information they seek for analysis has also broadened over time to include not just criminal intelligence, but public and private sector data, and participation in these centers has grown to include not just law enforcement, but other government entities, the military and even select members of the private sector."

I and another blogger have had similar experiences: what appeared to be snapshots of our computer screen. To be sure there's software to conduct these kind of surveillance. Here's a couple: Find one here, and another here. Designed for companies that wish to track the online behavior of employees, and for parents who wish to track their kids' Internet activities, the government may be using them to collect data on ordinary citizens--for one nefarious reason or another.

What's to prevent the government from using similar, and more sophisticated software to spy on those Americans they suspect, whether they have anti-government sentiments, or not?